Smooth Transfer from Mother Tongue to Language of Wider Community

Abstract

Language can be viewed as a tool of communication as well as the source of exercising power. Many things exist in language or live through language. It is vital for our survival. In multilingual Nepal, monolingual instruction is the dominant practice in schooling. It is always debatable which language should be used as a medium of instruction in education. Whether a mother tongue or national language or a global language should be given priority is still unanswerable. All languages have equal footing and they have right and choice to develop their mother tongues. We are now in the prompt need of promoting all mother tongues and at the same time, the need of contact language or national language to reach wider community is there. Why is mother tongue education essential in schooling? And, how could it be possible? How can we ensure smooth transfer from mother tongue to the language of wider community? These are the issues that this article attempts to explore.